Depression is a common mental disorder that occurs in persons of all genders, ages, and backgrounds, affecting about 121 million people worldwide. Symptoms of depression include, but are not limited to, depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration, or any combination thereof. These problems can become chronic or recurrent and lead to substantial impairments in an individual's ability to take care of his or her everyday responsibilities.
Depression is the leading cause of disability as measured by Years Lived with a Disability (YLDs) and the fourth leading contributor to the global burden of disease as measured by Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs; i.e., the sum of years of potential life lost due to premature mortality and the years of productive life lost due to disability) in 2000. By the year 2020, depression is projected to reach second place in the ranking of DALYs calculated for all ages, in both men and women. Today, depression is already the second cause of DALYs in the age category 15-44 years for both sexes combined. Whereas there are clearly a number of currently available treatments for depression, a significant proportion of patients are either incompletely treated (many residual symptoms remain) or do not respond to treatment at all. Thus, novel treatments for depression are needed. The present invention provides compounds, compositions, methods of preparing the same, and methods of treating depression. Such compounds would have additional utility in other disorders as well, including pain, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy and neurotrauma.